It's About Time:
Check Out These Time Tracking Alternatives
It makes great business sense to invest in a good time tracking program. The right time tracking program can help you dramatically cut down the hours you spend on time management tasks and reporting, which can, in turn, help you increase your business's overall productivity and efficiency.
Time tracking programs, for the most part, are designed to help you track your project and employee work times easily, make client billing and time reporting simple, eliminate the hassle of paper timesheets, create more efficient payroll preparation and more. Many time tracking programs today even offer extra timesavers on top of these important features.
Here are a few more things to consider about time tracking programs:
- Time is money, especially if you provide a service, so investing in a time tracking program can equate to meaningful return.
- Even if you do not bill for your time, consider tracking your labor (marketing, networking, production, bookkeeping, etc.) so that you can run reports on your productivity, better plan your time and budget accordingly.
- Using a time tracking tool that integrates with your billing and financial reporting will reduce your data entry efforts, also saving you time and money.
At Cybertary, we're quite fond of our Intuit® time trackers (#1 and #2 below), and we use them religiously and seamlessly with QuickBooks. Of course, there are many other wonderful and affordable software programs and new web-based time tracking programs from which to choose.
Here's a summary of a few of the programs available-make note that some are software based while others are web based. All of them are affordable, easy to use and include excellent billing and reporting features:
Software-Based Time Tracking Programs
1. QuickBooks® Pro Timer
Cost: Comes on QuickBooks Pro software CD; after QuickBooks Pro software purchase, no cost per user
QuickBooks integration: Yes
Reporting: Yes
Team Friendly: Yes, but requires installation on each team member's computer from QuickBooks CD
Software: Requires QuickBooks software for each user
Web enabled: No
Platform: PC only
2. QuickBooks® Time Tracker
Cost: Monthly cost per user, starts at $10/user with price breaks for volume
QuickBooks integration: Yes
Reporting: Yes
Team Friendly: Yes, also works well for remote teams
Software: Yes
Web enabled: Yes
Platform: PC only
Extras: Automatic timesheet reminders
3. TraxTime
Cost: $39/software
QuickBooks integration: Yes
Reporting: Yes
Team Friendly: Yes, Manager's Edition runs $59/software
Software: Yes
Web enabled: No
Platform: PC only
Web-Based Time Tracking Programs
4. Harvest
Cost: Free 30-Day Trial, plans start at $12/month for single user
QuickBooks integration: Yes
Reporting: Yes
Team Friendly: Yes, also works well for remote teams
Software: No
Web enabled: Yes
Platform: Mac or PC
Extras: Daily backup, start/stop timer desktop widget
5. Tick
Cost: Free 30-Day Trial, plans start at $9/month for single user
QuickBooks integration: Yes
Reporting: Yes
Team Friendly: Yes, also works well for remote teams
Software: No
Web enabled: Yes
Platform: Mac or PC
Extras: Daily backup, start/stop timer desktop widget
6. T Sheets
Cost: Free 30-Day Trial, plans start at $10/month for single user
QuickBooks integration: Yes
Reporting: Yes
Team Friendly: Yes, also works well for remote teams
Software: Yes
Web enabled: Yes
Platform: Any PC or mobile device
Extras: Clock in and out via cell phone
Both Software- and Web-Based Time Tracking Programs
OfficeClip Time Tracking Software
Cost: $80/software or $10/month per user for hosted version
QuickBooks integration: Yes
Reporting: Yes
Team Friendly: Yes, also works well for remote teams
Software: Yes, with installable version
Web enabled: Yes, with hosted version
Platform: PC only
Extras: Approval routing for supervisors
Choose the time tracking program that best fits your small business needs. Soon you'll be able to let go of all those pesky hours spent logging and calculating every critical minute. And then go ahead-go ahead and think about what you'll do with all that free time you're going to gain.
* Features were compiled in an August 2008 online survey of program websites. Subject to change without notice.
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